The Gospel Truth About Man

Since the original sin against God in the Garden of Eden, people are born with a sin nature, not loving God or others. The Gospel truth about man, about all of us, is we sin.

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26 – 27)Read more

We were not made as exact replicas of God, but we were made in His image. Mirrors help us to understand this concept. We are not made as a clone of God, but we do have elements that bear a resemblance to God. The original likeness we shared with God is that we were once good and right. Unfortunately, because of sin, we have fallen from our likeness of God. We have become sinful beings.

Since the original sin against God in the Garden of Eden, all people are born with a sin nature, not loving God and not loving others. God must punish us for our sin. Sin is our biggest concern as it separates us from God. It is important to understand our inner motive to seek pleasure and fulfillment because this will help us to better understand the sin nature. Scripture teaches that our fleshly desires and passions are what give birth to sin.Read more

We cannot escape the presence of sin. It has become a fact of life. Sin is the source of all of our heartache. It is helpful for people to recognize that the source of all of their problems is sin. With the absence of sin, we would be totally happy. Because of sin we have crime, greed, immorality, pain, sickness, poverty, and even death.

The Bible says our sin, makes us spiritually dead.

Sin, quite simply, is breaking God’s laws. God’s laws are written on everyone’s heart. People know we should not steal or murder or tell lies. It is also a sin to not do what we know we ought to do. Read more

We need to understand sin and be able to define it and recognize it in all of its disguises. The Bible uses many words to describe sin. The main terms for sin used in the Old and New Testament are: missing the mark, irreligion, transgression (lawlessness), iniquity, lack of integrity, rebellion, treachery, perversion, abomination.

Any definition of sin is incomplete if it does not define the greatest sin. If sin is lawbreaking, the greatest sin is breaking the most important law. The law that is broken everyday is to not love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Further, we should love our neighbor as our self.

For God to not have a hell would be to make a lack of faithfulness to Him inconsequential. Theologian, Wayne Grudem, says it like this, “If God were not to execute eternal punishment, then, apparently, his justice would not be satisfied and his glory would not be furthered in the way he deems wise.”

The purpose of God in condemning souls to hell is the exercising of His justice and His holiness towards those that reject His laws and His salvation through His Son. God extends great mercy and grace, even giving of Himself to die on the cross in our place. As the writer of Hebrews states, “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).

God’s holiness is what makes our salvation necessary. Those that see God face-to-face, see His goodness, see His perfection, and recognize His justice will have no question with regards to the just wrath of God. Sin occludes our eyes and blinds us to the nature of our being and the perfection of God. Once the blindness of sin is totally removed, when we are glorified, we will see God for who He really is.

Because we are literally dead spiritually, we are unable to do anything to make ourselves spiritually alive. Read more

In human court rooms, we are judged as to whether we are guilty or not guilty of a crime. There is no amount of good works we can say we have done that will erase the crime we have committed. We are either guilty or not guilty. When it comes to God’s perfect, holy law, we are all guilty of breaking the law. There is no way to undo this travesty.